Americans were obsessed with mobile apps on Thanksgiving

By Mike Flacy December 7, 2013

Using a Smartphone — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Detailed within a recent study conducted by app analytics company Flurry, mobile app use spiked on Thanksgiving 2013 with approximately 1.3 billion app starts in the United States. Rising nearly 75 percent year over year, Thanksgiving 2012 accounted for about 750 million app starts. The total figure has also tripled in size since 2011 which brought in about 400 million app session starts on Turkey Day. Flurry attributes the large spike in activity to the significant change in how we utilize mobile devices over traditional computers when working, playing games and relaxing while consuming media.

Specifically, media apps that allow users to consume feature-length movies, music, television shows, YouTube videos and photos where the most popular when compared to the week prior to Thanksgiving. Video games also spiked significantly week over week, likely due to more people looking for some entertainment while relaxing over the holiday weekend. Usage of lifestyle apps that include books and magazines rose slightly year over year as well as social networking applications like Facebook and Twitter.

smartphone-usage-thanksgiving — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Interestingly, the use of shopping apps didn’t spike as sharply week over week compared to previous years. However, it’s likely that consumers started their holiday shopping earlier due to the shortened shopping season between Black Friday and Christmas this year. In fact, Flurry reports that shopping app usage during the week prior to Thanksgiving spiked by 70 percent when compared to the same time period during 2012.

Apps that were less popular this year were related to business, education, news, travel, health and fitness. It seems that Americans were less likely to do anything work related this year during the holiday weekend and keeping track of calories wasn’t a priority when a giant turkey was on the dining room table. While Thanksgiving is one of the heaviest travel days of the year, people were less likely to use travel apps since travel for the weekend had already been booked.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Apps

Contributing Editor

By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…

Mobile

If you have one of these apps on your Android phone, delete it immediately

The app drawer on the Google Pixel 8 Pro.

The NSO Group raised security alarms this week, and once again, it’s the devastatingly powerful Pegasus malware that was deployed in Jordan to spy on journalists and activists. While that’s a high-profile case that entailed Apple filing a lawsuit against NSO Group, there’s a whole world of seemingly innocuous Android apps that are harvesting sensitive data from an average person’s phone.
The security experts at ESET have spotted at least 12 Android apps, most of which are disguised as chat apps, that actually plant a Trojan on the phone and then steal details such as call logs and messages, remotely gain control of the camera, and even extract chat details from end-to-end encrypted platforms such as WhatsApp.
The apps in question are YohooTalk, TikTalk, Privee Talk, MeetMe, Nidus, GlowChat, Let’s Chat, Quick Chat, Rafaqat, Chit Chat, Hello Chat, and Wave Chat. Needless to say, if you have any of these apps installed on your devices, delete them immediately.
Notably, six of these apps were available on the Google Play Store, raising the risk stakes as users flock here, putting their faith in the security protocols put in place by Google. A remote access trojan (RAT) named Vajra Spy is at the center of these app's espionage activities.

A chat app doing serious damage

Mobile

Ends tonight: Get 3 months of Mint Mobile for just $15

Mint Mobile Promotional.

Do you ever get the feeling that you're paying too much for your cell phone plan? If you've had the same carrier for years now, maybe it's time to switch it up. Hunting for a better deal is a great way to save money in the long run, and there are fantastic cell phone plan deals that can save you a nice chunk of change in the short term too. Mint Mobile has an offer today that gets you three full months of their service for just $45 total—just $15 per month. Keep reading for all the info you need, or head over to Mint's site and sign up. The deal ends today!

Why you should sign up for Mint Mobile with this deal
The best part about this deal is that it applies to every plan they have. That's right, no matter what data plan you opt for, your first three months will be $15 each. That means you can sign up for a small plan, just 5GB, and pay the usual rate, $15 per month. Or, if you're a thrifty shopper in it for the deals, you can sign up for the full unlimited plan, which is normally $30 per month, and still pay just $15 per month for three months. There are also 15GB and 20GB plans in between, and they're also—you guessed it—$15 per month for three months.

Mobile

Best cell phone plan deals: T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Mint Mobile and more

Woman

When it comes time to upgrade your phone, or sign someone in your family up for a new line, picking just one cell phone provider isn't simple. Every service provider has their own cell phone plan deals for new customers, and they can get confusing. If that's you, and you're searching for the best deal, there's a good chance you're going to save some serious money in the long run. You should always consider perks like smartphone deals and 5G phone deals that could get you a new phone for free. Because there are so many, we've collected all the best cell phone plan deals from the major and minor providers. These are general plans, so if you're searching for something more specific, like the best cell phone plan for home use or the best cell phone plan for small businesses, we encourage you to continue researching after you check out the deals below.
Mint Mobile: Get any 3-month plan for $15 per month
For a limited time, Mint Mobile has dropped the three-month price for all of its plans to just $15 per month. That means, the Unlimited plan, normally $30 per month, or $90 for three months, is no just $15 per month or $45 for three months. The base 5GB of data per month plan is $15 per month, and the 15GB per month plan is $15 per month, or $45 for three months. That is an incredible deal. All Mint Mobile plans include unlimited talk and text, access to 5GB high-speed data, free calling to Mexico and Canada, free mobile hotspot access, and WiFi calling support. You can't beat that!

U.S. Mobile: Pre-pay $23 per line per month
Prepaid wireless plans are a great option for light users, kids, and anyone else who won’t be consuming a lot of data on a daily basis. U.S. Mobile is one of the best prepaid service providers available today, allowing you to build your own custom plan, so you’re only paying for as many minutes, texts, and gigabytes of data as you want to. As just one example, its Unlimited Starter plan is just $23 per line, or $276 for 12 months -- saving you $72 per year. You get unlimited talk, text, and data, 10GB of hotspot data, international calling and texting, and more. If you're adding multiple lines to a plan, you can also unlock free extras like Disney+ and Netflix.